purplecatfish

My favorite female guppy has some symptoms that I've not come across before :evil: : It has scales sticking out on it's gill covers like what you get with dropsy but none on its body. It also has what looks like blisters on the top of its head and red patches under its chin. :-? All symptoms are on the head only, none on the body. It is eating and behaving normally. Any ideas or solutions? The scales make me think dropsy and the red patches make me think bacterial infection :-? . Finally for a salt bath, what is the concentration of salt?

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/drontal-droncit-praziquantel-adtape-amp-gill-flukes-vp260591.html

The main additive to water is fluoride. The chlorine comes from the cleaning chemicals used in the treatment plants and the chloramine comes from the chlorine reacting with contaminants. Any chlorine or chloramine that is present is in very small residual amounts...... ......unless there has been a spillage or exceptional treatment requirement. Generally this doesn't happen very often which means that for most tanks with common fish, chemicals for water treatment are just a good money spinner for the LFS.

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/drontal-droncit-praziquantel-adtape-amp-gill-flukes-vp260591.html I've used levamisole for internal parasites but it will depend on what the parasite is.

I've seen a friend's tank crash when they tried using chemicals to remove the tannins. Tannins also help keep the algae under control.

Patience is best.

Borneo suckers are fine (from experience).

I've just set up my third FX5 this evening. I use the JBL Micro and Sinto media as well as polishing pads and fine filter pads. I can easily go a month without having to replace the polishing pad and my tanks are overstocked. The tips that I do have are 1) make sure that the course sponges have the corners pushed in so that the ends of the two sponges meet, if there is a "V" then water/gunge can bypass the course sponge. 2) Putting a fine filter pad on top of the polishing pad is worth doing to extend the time between cleaning. My experience is completely different to evil elmo's but I don't have any experience with Eheims so I can't make a comparison.

The JBL snail trap worked well for me. (It's also good for catching bristlenoses).

I've found that using a net to scoop it out every day combined with agitation of the surface works well (use a powerhead or direct the flow from your filter). It tends to collect in still areas such as the corners and in the middle of floating plants like indian fern. If you keep at it you eventually win by removing more than can be reproduced.

My next big project is converting my son's lardge sandpit into a pond. I'm going to stock it with whitebait, koura and freshwater mussels. The main reason is that it's next to the BBQ and I want to tease my Dad :lol: .

It hasn't harmed my Clown, Yoyo/Pakistani, Kuhli, Chain or Skunk Loaches. It also hasn't harmed my Corys.

The one that is leaking will probably need a new seal. If they aren't lubricated with silicone grease then they will dry out and begin to crack. (Don't use vaseline as the petroleum will disolve the silicone rubber.) After learning the hard way I now look after the seals on all my filters (at least every 6 months), it also makes the filter open and close easier.

Yep. They're wild guppies. Definitely not Gambusia, we've got them at work. No one can make us get rid of the Gambusia even though we would be willing to spend the money to do so but it would cost us thousands of dollars in license fees alone (DOC etc) to release native fish as their replacement for mosquito control. Its ridiculous that government fees are making it too expensive to get rid of an unwanted organism.

One day we will be able to buy lamps that have PUR (photosynthetic usable radiation) ratings in order to work out which is best for us. Wattage, colour temp and relative spectrum graphs don't give us the best information to make our judgements. The colour temp is a rating based on our eyes which have a peak in the green. Plants however are interested in the red and blue parts of the spectrum, which is why the best plant bulbs appear purple.

Please put me on the list.

Also check the hardness

Give peas a chance Say NO to brocolli!

NZ Herald, Section A, page 12, Wed 26th Sept. An article on the Kowaro or Canterbury Mudfish which is the second most threatened native fish. (Anyone able to answer the most threatened species?) Are we all going to celebrate Mudfish Day next month :bounce: and make it a national celebration :bounce: rather than just the town of Oxford? Does anyone know the actual date?

Hi Stella, here's my 2 cents worth of opinion. Firstly to those who are politely questioning this project. I'm glad it's Stella that Massey Uni has asked to be involved, as from what I've read in other threads she probably knows more than nearly anyone else on this forum when it comes to native fish; or if there is someone who knows more they don't provide as much helpful advice. That she has been given this chance to help add to the knowledge of this threatened fish means that I'm not the only one with confidence in her ability to breed them. Who knows in years to come we might all be breeding them. From what I've read peat is usually used in a filter bag to alter the water chemistry, or its used under a layer of gravel. I'm not sure that it would work as a plain substrate as there is usually a lot of light leafy particles that are likely to float especially since it is usually dried before selling to the horticulture industry. The amount you'd use for a substrate could also make the water too acidic. Knowing what it's like to work with it in the garden on a wet UK winter's day you might also run the risk of anerobic areas forming. I suspect that you could get a get a sludgely mess. Trying a practical experiment may be the only way you'll find out. Perhaps some mud from there natural habitat would be a good idea as tHEcONCH suggests but I wouldn't sterilise it as it is likely to have a lot of microscopic beneficial critters. The trick would be in collecting it without mixing it up to much. I'm curious to know what kind of flow you'll have in the tank. And please let us know how it all goes, with photos too. The views in this post are opinion only and should not be regarded as coming from somone who actually knows anything

I'd like some opinions on the Pondmaster range of pumps, especially any quirks, hints or difficulties. And would you recommend them? I'm thinking about using one for my new river tank which will need over 3500 L/hr flow.

Do you have any bogwood in the tank? One of my first big tanks never had a spike which the LFS believed was caused by new pieces of bogwood making the water slightly acidic. Lots of plants also helped even though I had added too many fish at the beginning.

I've recently decided not to have ambulia (and cambomba) as I'm sick of constantly trimming them, they easily get to 1 metre long in my tank. I would recommend them as starter plants for guppies though. Easy to grow and the fine foliage gives great cover for the fry.

I've managed to convince my wife that I should get a 1.9m tank to replace the 3ft, ( to my wife). Anyway I'm going to build a river tank for my various species of hillstream loaches. So I need to buy a big powerhead that can fit onto the plumbing set up. For those who don't know how it works you have a sponge covered intake at one end with some pvc plumbing under the substrate and up to the powerhead so that you get a unidirectional flow. Therefore the Seio (M620 to M2600) type are ruled out as they don't have an inlet that can fit into/onto a pipe. P.S. All hail my wonderful wife :lol: